THE WINTER BALL

Name: The Winter Ball
Start: 2027-02-27
End: 2027-02-27
Location: Cipriani South Street

Late February · Cipriani South Street, New York · An Evening · Since 1952 · The Ball

Arranged by the Court

Guests in black tie raising numbered paddles during the appeal at The Winter Ball, New York — I · The Appeal

Dates: 27 February 2027
WhereCipriani South Street, New York
DressBlack tie
AdmissionOpen to the public
The weatherIn February New York reaches about 42°F by day and 30°F at night, and rain or snow falls on about one day in three.
The tableThe Court dines beforehand at Delmonico's, 56 Beaver Street, New York (delmonicosny.com).
In companyA member who means to go says so to the Secretary, and the Court seats its members together where the engagement allows.RSVP tells the Secretary that a member means to attend. Send passes the engagement’s name, its date and the address of its page to whomever the reader chooses, or, on a computer, copies the address; the Court itself sends and keeps nothing.RSVP

The Winter Ball is the New York Junior League’s night, held at the end of February in black tie for a thousand people. It has run since 1952.

What it raises goes to the League’s volunteer training and to some sixty organisations working across the city.

The Great Hall at Cipriani South Street, New York, set for a seated dinner: round tables laid with gold cloths and white flowers beneath the skylit ceiling, the stage at the far end lit in violet — II · The Dinner

The Founder

Mary Harriman was nineteen years old in 1901 and the daughter of one of the richest men in America. Her father owned railroads.

She had been down to the settlement houses on the Lower East Side and concluded that young women of her position ought to be doing the work rather than writing cheques for it. She gathered a group of them and formed the Junior League for the Promotion of Settlement Movements.

The idea travelled. There are some three hundred Junior Leagues now, and the New York League still puts two and a half thousand volunteers into the city.

The Winter Ball has paid for it since 1952.

Dinner served across a chandeliered ballroom in candlelight at The Winter Ball, New York — III · The Room

The Evening

Black tie, and it is kept.

The benefactors’ reception opens at six. Cocktails, then dinner, then the awards. The League gives its highest honours to sustainers and volunteers on the night, and the presentation is why a good part of the room is there.

A live auction follows. Then dessert and dancing from half past nine, to a band, and it runs late.

The Great Hall at Cipriani South Street, laid empty, its blue swirled carpet running beneath the high, skylit ceiling, where The Winter Ball is held in New York — IV · The Great Hall at Cipriani South Street

What to Know

There are two ways in. The full evening, taken by table or by benefactor ticket, and a separate ticket for dessert and dancing from half past nine at a fraction of the cost. Most people do not know the second exists.

Tables sell out, and the higher tiers go first.

It is a working organisation’s night rather than a society photograph. The women being honoured have put in years of unpaid hours, and the awards are the substance of the evening rather than an interruption to it.

The mistake is arriving for the party and missing the awards. The dancing is good. The reason for the dancing is better.

Questions

When is the New York Junior League Winter Ball in 2027?

The 75th Annual Winter Ball is on Saturday 27 February 2027 at Cipriani South Street, given as a Mardi Gras Masquerade in memory of its first years as the Mardi Gras Ball. The benefactors’ reception is at six, cocktails for dinner guests at seven, and dessert and dancing from half past nine.

How much are tickets to the NYJL Winter Ball?

As of October 2026, 2027 tickets cost $1,000 for the Harriman VIP ticket, with the benefactors’ reception, $600 for dinner and $300 for dessert and dancing from 9.30 p.m. Tables for ten run from $7,500 to $25,000. Guests must be 21 or over, and all sales are final.

What is the dress code for the NYJL Winter Ball?

Black tie. The 2026 ball at Cipriani South Street was reported as a black-tie evening for nearly a thousand guests. The Court wears black tie.

The loggia at Cipriani South Street at dusk, its riveted iron columns lit, the highway and the towers of Lower Manhattan beyond, where The Winter Ball is held in New York — V · The Loggia

The Court

The Winter Ball is not the Court’s own. Tables, benefactor places and seating are sought on a member’s behalf, and the Court arranges the whole of the evening: getting there, where to stay, and the table afterwards.

How one becomes a member is set out under Admission.